The nine fully equipped adventurers entered the dungeon with their weapons drawn. Starting from the front, they took the following formation:

~~

• Frontline Defenders: male <Lv. 14> Novice Shieldbearer, female <Lv. 17> Apprentice Swordswoman

• Vanguard: male <Lv. 11> Apprentice Swordsman, female <Lv. 19> Apprentice Swordswoman, male <Lv. 9> Novice Blacksmith

• Support: male <Lv. 13> Healer Initiate

• Rear Support: female <Lv. 5> Apprentice Earth Mage, male <Lv. 12> Apprentice Water Mage, male <Lv. 25> Hunter

~~

It was a well-balanced party and came from a mid-sized investment company. At first, several of the party members were just controlled by lust and hoped that they would be able to have sex with Therina. As long as it happened outside of the city and they didn't bring their employers name into it, they wouldn't care if they had sex with farm animals let alone some lone wolf adventurer.

When the scout returned information about locating an unmarked dungeon however, any thought of the lone elf was thrown into the wind as the company immediately went into action.

They posted up flyers in the adventurer and mercenary's guilds that they were recruitment fresh blood in plans of expanding their business and needed extra muscle.

Experienced adventurers and mercenaries immediately knew that this company had come across a potentially large profit, but nobody could be sure on exactly what. It could have been a rare treasure, spiritual fruit tree, or an unmarked dungeon. All of these had happened before, and someone always got rich.

Other companies and mercenary groups also caught wind of this and began paying closer attention to the recruitment process, some even trying to send spies to sign up with the investment company.

Nobody wanted to increase their competition, so it was an information war in which one company was trying to protect their secrets, while others were trying to discover them and also keep them from others themselves.

This party had slipped out of the city on what seemed like a standard mission to collect ingredients, but they secretly took a roundabout route toward the located dungeon instead.

"Be careful," The hunter and only Second Step ranker in the party called out to everyone the moment they stepped forth inside the dungeon.

The Novice Shieldbearer at the front of the party raised his shield slightly higher and asked, "What's the matter?"

"My danger senses are tingling, there are likely traps here."

"I don't see any t-"

The Novice Blacksmith was cut off as spears shot out from the gaps in the carved brick pattern of the floor and walls.

Everyone were experienced adventurers who had been through many dangers. They reacted instantly and tried to evade or minimize the damage as much as possible.The frontline defenders did the best job, the Novice Shieldbearer completely blocking the spears with his shield and armor while the Apprentice Swordswoman used her small kite shield and sword to block and break several spears in quick, lithe movements. The remaining spears where ones which either glanced off her armor, or she evaded enough that they barely cut her skin.

The vanguard were a bit less lucky and the Novice Blacksmith had an unlucky spear pierce through his shoulder. The other two vanguard members used their body to protect the healer, the Apprentice Swordswoman even took a spear in her abdomen.

The higher level adventurers had much sturdier bodies from the mana infused in the body from level ups, which was also shown as their endurance value on their stat page.

The only Second Step adventurer in the party, the Hunter, was much stronger than the rest of the party. He managed to avoid a pitfall trap opening up below him and even pulled the Apprentice Earth Mage out of harms way and protect her from all traps. He only suffered some minor wounds as his body was sturdy enough to resist most of the damage from the stone spears even if they struck him on bare skin.

[

Faust (Apprentice Water Mage <Lv. 12>) killed!

+ 528 exp

]

The Apprentice Water Mage was the only adventurer killed by the traps as he was unfortunate enough to get a spear pierce through his throat. Mages naturally had weaker bodies than their melee fighter compatriots, especially in vulnerable places such as the neck.

His death was basically immediate as he limply hung off the spear, his blood running down the stone shaft and dripping onto the ground.

Just as the healer begun healing the vanguard members who were injured, especially the Novice Blacksmith who could no longer hold his axe properly, the traps retracted and a sharp whistling sound cut through the air.

Four goblins and three forest assassins stood further in the cave and attacked with ranged weapons. The goblins held crude bows and fired arrows while the forest assassins used their dextrous arms to fling throwing knives.

"Defensive formation! Even charge forth and get out of the trapped entrance!" The Hunter commanded from the back as he carried the Apprentice Earth Mage. "Jennifer, use your magic to shift and break any traps behind the walls and floor around us."

The Hunter then pulled out his bow and fired back at the monsters. Jennifer, the earth mage used earth spikes and other basic earth magic to break apart the surrounding surfaces, inevitably destroying any spear or other traps hiding behind the walls and floor. The ceiling was too high for effective traps so Styx had long removed them from there.

The already injured Novice Blacksmith was the main target for the monsters being controlled by Styx. He tried to defend himself but with one limp arm and being caught unprepared, several arrows and throwing knives had hit unguarded areas and stolen his life away from him. The Healer Initiate also suffered a throwing knife to his calf before the frontline defenders could block the assault.

[

Danz (Novice Blacksmith <Lv. 9>) slain by Forest Assassin!

+ 33 exp

]

As a counter attack, the Hunter's arrows fired off with a force worthy of a Second Step ranker. The first arrow was released with a sharp snap of the bowstring and split the air like a bolt of lightning before striking on of the goblins in the center of the forehead. The goblin's bones did nothing to slow down the arrow as it passed through its head unhindered, leaving a finger sized hole where it passed through.The goblin dropped to the ground lifelessly with green blood pouring from the hole in its head. The remainder of the monsters quickly retreated while the forest assassins flung several more throwing knives at the adventurer party.

[

Forest Goblin <Lv. 3> slain by Human!

+ 6 exp

]

Another arrows flashed by with a sharp snap and gust of wind following it, this time piercing through the heart of a forest assassin.

[

Forest Assassin <Lv. 7> slain by Human!

+ 13 exp

]

Kalvin, the Hunter and party leader, looked at his fallen party member in annoyance once they escaped the booby trapped entrance hall. The Novice Blacksmith lay in a pool of his own blood that ran outwards along the rivets of the floor.

Whilst the loss of the blacksmith wasn't too devastating, adventurers with a mage class were a rarer minority and losing the water mage was highly unfortunate.

"Hiding among the designs… what insidious traps," Kalvin commented as he looked toward where the monsters escaped deeper into the dungeon. "Everyone be careful, there may be more unexpected traps. Try to keep an eye out for anything suspicious, although you may not see it so be ready to act on a moment's notice."

The entire adventurer party held the nerves taut as they entered deeper within the dungeon. When they entered the main passageways on the giant stone bridge which ran along giant corridors, water flowing beneath them, they all sucked in a cold breath of air.

"It surprisingly beautiful," the vanguard Apprentice Swordswoman commented in admiration.

The Apprentice Earth Mage also chimed in, "And has a mysterious grandeur."

The Hunter wasn't to be fooled. He immediately assessed the dungeon based on its structure and warned everyone.

"This isn't just some random dungeon. There is clearly a dungeon lord already owning this dungeon core. The traps are perfectly hidden and the monsters seem to have tactics. Also…"

He looked back at where the fallen forest goblin and forest assassin were lying in their own pools of green blood.

"These monsters aren't summoned. Someone has used women to breed them, else they would have returned to the mana that they were born from. Whoever is in control of this dungeon is conducting illegal activity and clearly breeding monsters to have stronger minions."

"Are you such a straight laced person that you care about someone breaking the law?" The Novice Shieldbearer asked with a raised brow.

"Don't be ridiculous, this is good for us. Nobody would defend a criminal even if they escaped and managed to claim we stole their dungeon core. I am merely commenting on it so everyone knows what we are up against. These people can employ some truly underhanded methods from what I've heard."

"What is our plan?"

"We are at a disadvantage. They most likely know everything about us, but we know nothing about them. Take things slow, don't get baited by the monsters, and kill the dungeon lord. Most importantly however, be prepared for anything to happen."